


Extraterrestrial

by callingallfreaks



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Aliens, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 08:59:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3243872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callingallfreaks/pseuds/callingallfreaks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thousands of years ago, a race of aliens from a distant area of the universe discovered Earth, but they ultimately returned to their own planet.   Now they're back, and they want to coexist with humans.    Chanyeol isn't quite convinced the aliens don't want to destroy all of humanity. When he goes off to college, he's shocked to find that his new roommate is one not human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chanyeol was sitting in front of the television, eating a bowl of cereal and paying rapt attention to the press conference that was taking place before him. It hardly seemed to be real, but having lived the last few months, he knew that it wasn’t a dream. 

Aliens were real and the camera was focusing on one right now. 

The individual on the screen looked sort of human. Okay, honestly it looked really human. Of course the only people who actually looked like that were models, actors and other celebrities. The aliens were gorgeous, really, and that was part of the reason Chanyeol was so creeped out by them. They looked so perfect that it was extra obvious that they just weren’t human.

Chanyeol could hardly believe that the entirety of the world, for the most part, was allowing these aliens to move in. Like the world wasn’t too crowded already, what with their own species barely fitting in every nook and cranny. Chanyeol figured the aliens were trying to fix that problem now, with this press conference. They had announced that people from Earth who wanted to take a chance for adventure could travel to their planet and live. 

Chanyeol could see several problems with Earth, but you’d have to be pretty desperate to want to travel to an entirely different planet and live. Earth had problems, but it was home. 

“We’ve already gotten several thousand humans coming forward saying they’d like to come to our planet, and this is great.” The alien diplomat said, his tone friendly and excited. “Our planet is double the size of Earth and because of natural disasters a few decades back, the population is only in the hundred thousands.”

“Then go back there and stop making our crowding even worse,” Chanyeol muttered through his mouthful of cereal. 

“Be nice, Chanyeol,” his mother chastised him from across the room. “They’re very advanced, maybe they can help us with technology and medicine and stuff. Think of all the good they could possibly do here.”

“They couldn’t even help themselves from nearly being wiped out,” Chanyeol said, rolling his eyes. “They probably lost all their technology.”

“Speaking of technology, don’t forget the cord to your laptop. It’s plugged in behind your dad’s recliner,” his mom said, ruffling Chanyeol’s hair affectionately. 

Chanyeol stood immediately to retrieve his cord. He’d been sure he’d packed the thing up already. It wouldn’t do at all to forget the cord to his laptop when he left for college. After he secured the cord in his backpack, he took a minute to look around at the bags he’d be taking with him when he moved two hours away and lived full time in a dorm hall. 

It was pathetically small, to be honest. He had three suitcases, one of them full of his collection of hats, and the other two packed full of his entire wardrobe. He had a duffel bag with a few odds and ends he’d need, like his shaving kit, his ipod dock, his alarm clock, toothbrush, and things like that, and his backpack was full of text books and his laptop. 

It was sort of sad that the first seventeen years of his life could fit into three suitcases, a duffel bag, and a backpack. His mom poked her head in his room and tried to smile brightly. He knew she was facing the same situation he was. He’d never been out of the house for any extended period of time. She would miss him just as much as he’d miss her.

“That’s all of it?” she asked with a laugh. “Don’t worry, when you remember what you’ve forgotten next week I’ll send it right out to you.” 

He cracked a smile but tried to hide it by rubbing his mouth with the back of his palm. “Thanks, mom.”

She kissed his cheek before she walked over and grabbed two of the suitcases to carry them to the car. He watched her go with a lump in his throat and prayed to whatever god was out there that he could hold in the crying that was definitely going to happen until she’d taken him to his room and left him there. She’d raised a man. He wanted to make her proud by not crying in front of her.

He put his backpack on, grabbed the duffel and the suitcase, and turned, exiting the room.

Halfway down the hall he stopped in his tracks, eyes wide. He jogged back down to the room at the end of the hall and opened the door. He’d left the light on. He wouldn’t need the light on anymore. He wasn’t going to be back until Christmas. 

 

“It’s big!” his mom said as she pushed her way into the dorm room that would be his home for the majority of the next four or five years. “It’s nice.” She turned to him with a watery smile. Not good. If she cried now, Chanyeol would definitely cry, too. 

“Yeah, it’s not bad,” Chanyeol replied, coming into the room and dropping his luggage on the floor. “I wonder which bed I should take?” He glanced at the bunk beds. “I want the bottom, but what if my roommate wants the bottom?”

His mother wrapped her thin arms around him tightly, sniffling into his hair. “I raised you to be so considerate,” she said, her voice thick with unshed tears. He sighed and pulled her into a tight hug. 

“I’ll be okay, mom,” he said. “It’s only two hours away. I can come home every Friday if I want to.”

“And you’d better come home sometimes,” she said, looking up at him sternly, as though it didn’t matter that he was nearly a whole head taller than she was. And it really didn’t matter. He was still as terrified of her anger as he had been when he was a child. 

“I will,” he promised, just as she burst into tears. It was like a faucet was turned on, and before he knew what was happening, Chanyeol was crying as quietly as he could into her hair to muffle the sound. Her hand was rubbing his back soothingly like she’d done every time he was sick or scared for his entire life. 

“Oh.. Oh, god, I’m so sorry,” a sudden voice said quickly. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, I’m so sorry.”

They broke apart quickly and Chanyeol turned to get his first glimpse at his new roommate. The guy was blurry, and rather short from what he could see, and Chanyeol wiped his eyes discreetly. His mother was much faster to recover. She laughed a little and cleaned her face off.

“It’s okay, honey,” she said. “You must be Yeollie’s new roommate.”

“Yeah. My name is Baekhyun,” the boy replied. “But I can go if you still need some time,” he offered.

“No, no, no, that’s alright. It’s nice to get a distraction, right, Yeollie?” 

She approached Baekhyun where he was standing stiffly in the doorway and grasped his hand gently, pulling him inside the room. Once he was in the light she gasped and took a step away, her palm coming up to her throat.

“Oh my goodness, Baekhyun, you’re so beautiful,” she breathed.

Baekhyun smiled shyly and reached around, scratching the back of his head. His eyes crinkled in an adorable smile that melted her heart. 

“Thank you,” he replied shyly. He glanced past her at Chanyeol. “Y-Yeollie?” His mother laughed and grabbed the boy in a tight hug. 

“This is my son, Chanyeol,” she said, pulling him over to where Chanyeol stood, still trying to clear the emotion from his eyes. “We’re from two hours away. Where are you from, Baekhyun?” 

Baekhyun glanced between the two of them, unsure. Chanyeol took a good look at his new roommate, and his mother was right. He really was beautiful. There was something in the unearthly beauty of his features at made Chanyeol freeze.

“I’m actually from Exo,” Baekhyun replied carefully. 

His mother gasped and looked at him better. “Wow, that’s so fascinating! I didn’t know that students from your planet where enrolling in our schools yet!” She hugged him again and Chanyeol wanted nothing more than to put miles of distance between his mother and the alien. 

“There are a few others that are attending this university,” Baekhyun replied, his bright smile again at the obvious acceptance she had for difference. “I’m glad you’re not uncomfortable. A few people have been sort of… Reluctant to adjust.” 

“I’ve always been very open minded,” she replied. “I hope someday soon we can get together again and talk all about what life is like on your planet!” His eyes widened and he grabbed her arm gently in excitement. 

“Maybe you can visit! It literally takes like three seconds to go through the portal and you’d arrive in the national park in the capitol! It’s very different.” 

Chanyeol reached out and grabbed his mother, pulling her away from the alien and toward him. “Let’s not get carried away, it might not be safe.”

“It’s perfectly safe, nobody’s gotten lost or hurt the entire time it’s been functioning.”

“I didn’t mean the travel,” Chanyeol replied, eyeing the alien with clear dislike. “Are you going to help me unpack mom?” 

“Oh, right,” she said, distracted by the task. 

Baekhyun bit his lip and looked away from Chanyeol. “Do you want to be on the top or the bottom?” he asked. 

“Bottom,” Chanyeol replied, suddenly not caring about being considerate at all. “I’ll take the bottom.”

“’kay!” Baekhyun replied, grabbing his bag off the floor and making his way up the small staircase to the platform his bed and desk was on. “It’s really nice here,” he mumbled. “I like the weather. It’s a bit colder on Exo, but it’s not totally unbearable.”

“Does it rain there?” his mother asked, glancing up at Baekhyun as she took Chanyeol’s clothes out of his suitcase and folded them neatly. 

“It rains, but it’s not the same as here,” Baekhyun leaned over the rail around his loft. “Rain is really bad. It comes down very hard, but it doesn’t rain often. It’s one of the natural disasters that killed so many people. Rain and wind storms that knocked out the power in the winter and people froze to death.”

“Oh how terrible,” she replied, eyes knitted together in distress. 

“It took nearly a decade to get back on track, but most of the technology and stuff survived. It was just a matter of waiting for the ice to melt.” 

“Does it snow?” 

“Snow?” Baekhyun glanced at her in confusion. “The white stuff that’s really cold?” At her nod he chuckled. “Nope. But there are wind storms which are pretty annoying sometimes. One time I got stuck outside in the wind storm and got a concussion because I was thrown in the wall of the house.” 

“Oh my!”

“Yeah, my dad had to run out and save me,” Baekhyun laughed. “It was stupid, I was just trying to save our family pet that was outside and I end up getting a concussion. But the pet wasn’t in the least bit injured. I held her against me and got hurt instead.”

“Awwww you’re just too sweet, Baekhyunnie!” 

Chanyeol glared briefly at his mother and cursed her bleeding heart. She was bonding with the alien, and it creeped him out. He hung his jeans and dress clothes up in the closet by his bed and started unloading his knickknacks on his desk as they made idle chitchat about the differences between Exo and Earth. He talked about Exo like it was heaven. If it was so great, why did he even leave?

“Well, you’re all moved in, son.” Chanyeol glanced over his shoulder to see that his mother had arranged all of his clothes in his dresser, color coded and everything. “Don’t let your laundry get nasty,” she said, coming close to him and running her fingers through his hair. “I know you’re a man, but you’re more than capable of doing you own laundry.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Chanyeol replied, smiling a little. “I won’t be gross.” 

“And study hard,” she said, pinching his ear. “You worked hard to get a scholarship, don’t blow it by going to college parties and picking up loose girls.” There was a quiet giggle from the loft and Chanyeol glared over to see the alien peeking over the rail at them. “You’ll make sure he studies, right, Baekhyun?”

“I’ll do my best, Ms. Park!” 

“Good boy,” she let go of Chanyeol’s ear and hugged him tight. “Get settled in. I can find my way out. Make friends with your roommate. I want you to bring him home for the weekend in a few weeks.” She glared at him sternly. “He’s so skinny he could do with a home cooked meal.”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and hugged her tight, not wanting to let her go. When he finally released her, he was fighting back tears again. She bid them both goodbye and left him there with the alien.

“Your mom is really sweet,” Baekhyun said quietly. 

“Yeah, don’t talk to me,” Chanyeol replied, grabbing his headphones and backpack off the desk, moving onto the bed.

The alien didn’t speak again, and Chanyeol didn’t bother to look at see the alien’s reaction. Did it even have feelings? Chanyeol grabbed his cell phone. Three missed calls from Kris and a text. 

“You get to campus yet? Lunch?” 

“Yeah I’m here. And you’ll never guess what I get for a roommate.”

“No shit, you got one of those Exo alien things, too? Mine’s name is Jongin. Yours?”

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol sighed and glanced up at the loft above his bed. “Of all the roommates I could have ended up with, I didn’t expect this.”

“Me either. But it’s alright. Jongin’s kind of cool. He plays video games.”

Chanyeol snorted at phone. Leave it to his best friend to make friends with an alien on his first day. He was one of those rare humans that actually looked as physically awesome as all those freaks did, so maybe that was his deal. 

“I was gonna go to the cafeteria for some food. You going?”

“Depends, you bringing your new friend?”

“Well, he has to eat, too, and we’re all freshmen. Bring your roommate too.”

“I’m not really hungry,” Chanyeol’s stomach growled as he typed the lie, but he didn’t care to have lunch with a bunch of aliens. 

“Maybe next time,” Kris responded.

“Fuck,” he muttered, stretching out on his bed.

A tousled black hair peeked over the edge of the loft and glanced down at him. “I was going to take a shower, do you want to use the bathroom first?”

“Nope, knock yourself out,” Chanyeol replied, rolling over and pushing his head under the stiff university-provided pillow. 

There was a soft pitter-patter of feet tip-toeing down the stairs of the loft and Baekhyun disappeared into the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his neck. 

Chanyeol groaned and wondered how he’d get through the next few months living in the same room as an alien.


	2. Chapter 2

On the first day of class, Chanyeol was sure that he was going to get lost and end up late to every single one of his classes. He’d arrived at the dorms several days before the first day of class just so that he could explore campus and figure out the best ways to get to his classes on time. Of course as soon as he’d gotten there, he’d proceeded to lay in his bed and mope for the next three days because of his unfortunate roommate situation. It didn’t do much to make him feel better, considering that the alien mostly stayed inside, too. 

He sat at his desk for hours, reading from his textbooks. Chanyeol wondered if that was normal. Did most college students read through their entire textbooks before class? It concerned him, so he found himself picking up his history textbook and trying to work his way through it. He’d gotten to the middle of the first chapter before he’d given up. It was so dry and boring that there was no way he could possibly read the whole thing.

He glanced down at his map of campus again and wondered if he was even reading the damn thing right. According to the map, his classroom should be down the hall in from of him, so he squared his shoulders and marched inside the room.

By some lucky happenstance, it did appear to be the right room, so he sat down somewhere in the middle. He didn’t want to look like a loser by sitting in the front row, and he didn’t want the teacher to think he was a slacker for sitting in the very back.

He took out a tablet and a pencil and flipped to a random page. He began a rough pencil sketch to pass the time until the class was full and the professor was ready to begin. He started the outline of an oval face and big, dark shaded eyes. 

“That’s cool how you just pull that out of nowhere,” a sudden voice muttered. “I always wished I could draw.” 

Chanyeol glanced over his shoulder at the boy sitting there. He smiled. “My mom always wanted me to be able to do anything so she made me take art classes.” The boy laughed. “I’m Chanyeol.”

“Tao,” the boy replied, slipping out of his chair and moving forward a row to sit next to Chanyeol. “I’m so glad I made a friend, I hate sitting alone.” He smiled brightly. “Are you a freshman, too?”

“Yeah, this is my first class,” Chanyeol replied. Further conversation was interrupted by the professor coming into the classroom, ending all side conversation. 

Tao would serve as a good college friend, and after class they headed together to the cafeteria to get lunch, since they both a few hours before their next classes. Along the way they met up with Kris, who punched Chanyeol for ignoring his texts. Chanyeol’s new friend was more than amused by their rough friendship. 

“I’m Kris,” he introduced himself, using that suave tone that he thought made him look sexy. Chanyeol, safe behind Tao’s back, made gagging motions. 

“Tao,” the boy replied, eyes sparkling.

The three of them found an empty table in the corner of the cafeteria and claimed it by setting their backpacks down in the seats, hoping that would be enough to keep people away from it until they returned with food. 

As they were waiting in line, it became increasingly obvious that Kris was interested in Tao. He listened intently as Tao spoke, hanging onto every word like it was the most important thing he’d ever heard. Chanyeol figured that Tao was pretty attractive, so he wasn’t at all surprised his Casanova of a best friend would lay claim to him after just one meeting.

“I’m majoring in Elementary education, actually,” Tao said, smiling brightly. “I love kids.”

“So do I!” Kris replied enthusiastically. Chanyeol refrained from mentioning that Kris had always hated children, ever since the time when Chanyeol’s mom and aunt had been forced to leave them alone with his two year old cousin and they’d proceeded to run around the house after the toddler for the entire weekend. 

“I have five siblings,” Tao said. “The youngest is just a few months old, and I miss her so much.” He pouted in the most adorable way, and Kris grinned as he ruffled Tao’s hair. Maybe for the right person, Chanyeol figured, anybody could start liking kids.

“That must be kind of creepy, though, to know your parent still have sex when you’re in college,” Chanyeol butted in as he followed behind them with his tray full of food. “I mean, gross, I hope my parents don’t still do that.”

“They do it in your bed when you’re not home,” Kris replied, glaring at him as though he’d ruined the cute moment. Tao blushed.

“My parents are very much in love,” he said. “They’re very affectionate and cute together.” 

“And they have sexy times,” Chanyeol said, waggling his eyebrows with a grin. Tao covered his face with his hands and laughed.

“Okay you’re right, it’s a little bit gross,” he gave in with a nod. 

They ate their lunches in a companionable silence after that, Kris sneaking glances at Tao out of the corners of his eyes, and if Tao didn’t realize he was doing it, he was extremely unobservant. Chanyeol tossed a piece of pork at Kris, and he didn’t even notice it as it stuck in his hair. 

“I have class in half an hour,” Chanyeol said an hour later. Really, he didn’t have class for two hours, but he was tired of watching Kris making googly-eyes at Tao and figured he could go back to his room and have a nap for an hour or so. “Nice meeting you, Tao. Hope this is the start of a great lunch-time friendship.” 

Tao chuckled as he shook Chanyeol’s extended hand. “It was nice meeting you, too, Chanyeol. But you should learn to take neater notes so when I skip class I know I can rely on you for whatever I’ve missed.” 

“My notes are beautiful!” Chanyeol picked his bag up and glanced down at Kris. “He’s too good for you, man, just let it go.” 

Kris had the decency to blush, but Tao didn’t even seem to realize when had been said. He was distracted, peering at Kris’ hair. He reached over and plucked the forgotten piece of meat out and held it up with a smile.

“This was in your hair,” he teased. “Were you saving it for later?” 

Chanyeol was still on a happy high when he arrived back in his empty dorm. The alien wasn’t there anymore. Hopefully he’d have class until late and Chanyeol would have some free time before he felt the need to watch his back and be wary of some alien probe up his ass or a ray gun blowing his brains out. So far the aliens hadn’t showed any sort of hostility, but Chanyeol didn’t understand what they hoped to gain by coming here. What did their little planet have to offer them that they couldn’t get elsewhere in the universe?

He went into the adjoining bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, leaving the door open a little bit. If he had closed the door, when Baekhyun had come in a few minutes later, he wouldn’t have heard the conversation he was having on his phone when he came in. 

“Oh, good, he’s not here,” Baekhyun breathed, and Chanyeol creeped quietly toward the doorway so he could listen without being seen. “I’m serious, Lu, you have no idea how awkward it is. He doesn’t like me at all. I met his mom, though, and she’s so sweet.” He heard Baekhyun drop himself onto the couch in the middle of the living area of the room. “Why does that even matter? Yes, he’s cute. No, I doubt he’d want to meet you. People here aren’t like us. Boys don’t usually like other boys.” Oh great, and the alien was gay too. Anal probing seemed a more likely happenstance every minute. “I’m telling you, he hates us because we’re not human. I’m not stupid. As soon as I told them I was from Exo, he got all tense and tried to take his mom away from me, like I was going to eat her or something.”

He hadn’t thought he would eat her. Chanyeol almost scoffed, but caught himself in time. He’d just been worried that he would try to take her back to the mothership and keep her forever. 

“I talked to the RA, actually. Yeah, I might be able to move in a few weeks, as soon as the fuss from the beginning of the semester dies down,” Baekhyun said. “It sucks, I really wanted to get along with my roommate, but I don’t feel safe here.” Chanyeol frowned at the words. How could Baekhyun not feel safe when he was the one who was potentially dangerous? “I barely slept at all last night. I had one eye open the whole time. I had a nightmare that I woke up and he was holding a knife over me and I didn’t sleep at all after that.”

That was just stupid, Chanyeol thought. He didn’t even have a knife. 

“No, I’m not going to do report it. I don’t want to get him in trouble or something. It’s not his fault. A lot of people are scared,” Baekhyun replied. “My father would be so mad at me if I started some kind of scandal here. If I can’t handle this, he’ll make me come home.” 

Would that really be so bad?

“It’s nice, Luhan, it really is.” Chanyeol could hear the smile in his tone. “It’s great to be able to go for a walk outside and not have people gawking at me.” Why the fuck would people gawk at Baekhyun? He was cute, yeah, but he wasn’t that great. “So when are you coming to see me? I miss your hot body.” Baekhyun laughed at the response that Chanyeol didn’t want to hear. “I know, it’s so weird not seeing you every day.” Was he talking to his boyfriend? “How’s your mom doing?”

Something bad was about to happen, and Chanyeol scrambled desperately in his mind for something, anything to save him. There was nothing that could be done, and he sneezed, the loud sound reverberating in the tiny bathroom. 

“Shit, hang on,” Baekhyun said. There were loud footsteps and the bathroom door was flung open. Baekhyun stood there with his fists on his hips, glaring at Chanyeol. “Park Chanyeol are you eavesdropping on me?”

“You’re the one that assumed nobody was here, I was just standing here minding my own business,” Chanyeol replied, trying to look like he hadn’t been doing just that.

“With your ear against the wall?”

“I was listening to the sound of the building. It’s a common human practice,” Chanyeol said argumentatively. 

“You’re full of shit.”

“And so are you. Standing over you with a knife? Are you serious?” Baekhyun turned and stormed back to the phone, grabbing it, and his backpack.

“I’m gonna go, Luhan, sorry. I’m going to the library, I’ll email you.” 

Without looking back at him, Baekhyun left the room, slamming the door behind him. Chanyeol just rolled his eyes. “What a drama queen.”

 

When he got back from his final class for the day, the dorm was empty. He made sure to check the bathroom, just in case, and was relieved to find nobody there. He’d been thinking about the conversation he’d overheard all day, and to be honest, it was bothering him. His mother would be ashamed of him. She’d raised him to be considerate, and making the alien fear that he was going to killed in his sleep wasn’t exactly considerate. 

So he brought out his bags of gourmet hot chocolate and some mugs. Whenever he’d been upset, his mom had made him cocoa, so he figured he’d do the same for the alien, and maybe it would forgive him and be at least able to sleep in peace. He put the burner onto warm and kept the cocoa over the heat, waiting until his roommate got back. 

It was dark when that finally happened, but as soon as the alien came in, Chanyeol stood up and turned toward him.

“Look. I’m not going to stab you in your sleep,” he said. The alien crossed his arms across his chest and looked down at the floor. “No, really, you can search my shit, I don’t have a knife.” 

“Whatever, fine,” he replied. “It doesn’t matter. Just forget it.”

“Alright. Here, I made something,” Chanyeol grabbed the mugs off the coffee table and ladled some hot cocoa into them. “My mom makes me this when I’m upset.”

“I’m not upset,” the alien denied in a soft voice.

“Still, here, I made enough for two.” Chanyeol handed the mug of steaming hot chocolate to Baekhyun and cradled his own in his big palms. He watched Baekhyun as he stared at the brown contents of the cup in suspicion. 

“What is it?”

“It’s poison, what do you think it is,” Chanyeol replied dryly. Baekhyun just glared. “Fine, I’ll drink it first so you can see it’s not poisonous.” He took a careful sip of it, testing for temperature. “It’s a little bit hot, so don’t drink it too fast.” He took a larger swig and looked back at Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun tentatively brought the cup to his lips and sipped. He licked the foam off his lip and glanced up at Chanyeol. “It’s good,” he said, taking another drink. Chanyeol sat on the sofa and brought the mug back up to his lips. His mother would be proud. He’d done something nice. 

“It’s my favorite,” Chanyeol replied. Baekhyun sat down on the opposite side of the sofa, and Chanyeol noticed that his cocoa was nearly halfway gone already. “I make kick ass hot chocolate, right?” 

Baekhyun nodded. “Really good,” he replied. “I’ve never had anything like this before.” 

Having grown up with hot chocolate in his life, Chanyeol could scarcely imagine what it would be like to drinking it for the first time. The alien reached out and set the mug down on the table, and Chanyeol glanced over at him. His face was pale white, and he was shaking a little bit.

“I don’t feel so good,” he said. 

“I think you drank it too fast,” Chanyeol replied. 

Baekhyun stood up and headed toward his bed. He made it halfway there before he collapsed, falling to the ground with a sickening thud. Chanyeol sat frozen for a few seconds before he realized that his roommate was shaking on the floor, gasping for breath as he curled up in the fetal position.

“Fuck, I killed it,” he said, spilling his cocoa on himself as he ran for the door to get help. 

 

Five hours later, Chanyeol was relieved that he had not killed his roommate. Baekhyun, however, was convinced that he’d tried to. Chanyeol argued that how the hell was he supposed to know that Baekhyun was allergic to chocolate. 

Baekhyun’d had to get shot of some alien medicine in his ass, and he’d assured Chanyeol that was about to let him forget it any time soon. They’d been driven back to their dorm from the clinic on campus in a little golf cart, and then he’d been forced to give the alien a piggy back ride all the way up the stairs to their room. 

Finally in bed for the night, he laid there and stared up at the bottom of the loft above him, this thighs burning from carrying Baekhyun.

“I’m telling your mom you tried to kill me,” Baekhyun said softly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol meets a new friend and gets invited to a party.

The next few weeks were tense, and Chanyeol really tried to make it up to the alien for nearly killing him. He told him he’d make him something other than hot cocoa, and Baekhyun had adamantly refused, saying he valued his life more than Chanyeol’s pride and Chanyeol could shove his homemade beverages up his ass. 

Chanyeol had forgotten all about the alien’s decision to look for a new room until one day he got back and Baekhyun was filling out paperwork on a clipboard. Being naturally curious, Chanyeol made sure to walk close enough to the alien that he could read the paper. 

“Hey, wait, you’re still moving? I told you it was an accident!” he said, grabbing the clipboard and holding it over his head, out of Baekhyun’s reach. Much to his enjoyment, his roommate still tried, standing on his tip toes and hopping to reach it. 

“Chanyeol, give it back!” he ordered, grabbing Chanyeol’s shoulder to get more height on his hopping. 

“If you move out my mom will think it was my fault!” he said, putting one hand on Baekhyun’s head to hold him down.

“It is your fault!” Baekhyun replied. “Now give it back!”

“Come on, I’m starting to kind of get used to you a little bit, don’t move out. Who knows who else I could get as a roommate when you leave?” Chanyeol asked, pushing on Baekhyun’s shoulders and forcing him back onto the couch. “I’m tearing this up. If you move out I’ll never hear the end of it. I thought we established that I wasn’t going to kill you in your sleep.”

“We did,” Baekhyun said, huffing and crossing his arms over his chest. It was his signature pout pose. He stood and threw himself on Chanyeol’s bed. “You want me to stay here because you’d miss me, right?” 

“Of course. Now get off my bed before I spray you with a water bottle.” 

Baekhyun threw Chanyeol’s pillow, hitting him square in the face. As he watched the alien retreat up to his own bed, Chanyeol realized that he had become sort of used to him in the last few weeks. When he’d first met Baekhyun, if he’d have hit him with anything, even a pillow, he’d have probably snapped. Hell, sometimes he even found himself staring at Baekhyun’s ass as he walked away from him, usually in annoyance. 

He was sort of used to the way Baekhyun always looked so put-together in the mornings, and the way he didn’t even own eyeliner, but his eyes looked like they were rimmed in a thick layer of kohl. His hair always looked perfect, even when he’d slept on it, and it dried perfectly. He was sort of used to muting whatever music he had going when Baekhyun took a shower, because he usually sang while he cleaned himself, and it sounded really nice.

“Is it okay if a friend of mine comes over?” Baekhyun asked, sticking his perfectly unstyled head out of the bathroom. 

“An alien friend?” Chanyeol asked immediately. 

“Yes.” Baekhyun glared. “And if you say no, I’m moving out.” He closed the door before Chanyeol could respond. 

He was tempted to leave, but he knew that the alien wouldn’t believe him if he said it was only to give him privacy to with his friend. Baekhyun was the only alien Chanyeol had actually met, and he wondered what they were like as a whole. Would this alien look similar? It was stupid, he knew, because there were other aliens at their school, and he hadn’t run across many people who looked like Baekhyun wandering around.

Half an hour later there was a knock on the door and Chanyeol sat up in his bed, inexplicably nervous to meet Baekhyun’s friend. He was used to his alien roommate, but much less used to the idea of more than one alien in his life. 

Baekhyun opened the door and grabbed the person on the other side, hugging them and squealing in excitement. Chanyeol rolled his eyes. What a girl. Baekhyun returned to the room, pulling someone behind him, and Chanyeol’s eyes bugged out of his head. 

“Tao?” he said, bewildered. 

Tao looked back at him, equally surprised. “Chanyeol?” he looked at Baekhyun in confusion, and back to Chanyeol. “This is your alien-hating roommate?” 

“You two know each other?” Baekhyun asked.

“You tell people you have an alien-hating roommate?” Chanyeol said. Suddenly Tao didn’t look like a friend anymore. He looked like a liar. “You didn’t tell me you were an alien.”

“You didn’t ask,” Tao replied. “Does it matter?”

“Well, yeah it kind of does. You lied to me,” Chanyeol said. “I’m not friends with liars.” 

Tao scoffed and rolled his dark eyes. “What a convenient excuse, Chanyeol. You were perfectly fine with me until you knew I was an alien freak, right?”

“Does Kris know?” Chanyeol asked suddenly. “Because he has the right to know that the guy he’s interested in is-“

“Yes, Kris knows. I told him weeks ago. He doesn’t care because he’s not a prejudiced piece of shit,” Tao interrupted. He turned to Baekhyun, who was staring at the ground, chewing nervously on his lower lip. He spoke quickly to him in a language Chanyeol had never heard before. 

“I’m not prejudiced!” Chanyeol argued. He knew in the back of his mind that the statement wasn’t entirely true, but the hateful way Tao was staring at him, like he was something disgusting and stinky that he’d stepped in, made him aggressive. “I just like to know that the people I trust are-”

“Human?” Tao cut in, arching one eyebrow at Chanyeol. “Don’t bother trying to defend yourself to me, Chanyeol. I’ve met people like you. More than you’d imagine. I know that in your mind you’re perfectly right and I’m perfectly wrong and there’s nothing that I could ever say to change that.”

“Can we just go to the library or something?” Baekhyun interjected quietly, looking very uneasy. 

“Of course we can,” Tao replied, reaching out and brushing his thumb over Baekhyun’s cheek. There was a familiarity there, a sense of comfort in their touching, that made Chanyeol wonder if they were more than friends. First it was the friend on the phone, now it was Tao. Was Baekhyun the national whore of their planet? Tao grabbed Baekhyun’s backpack off the floor and slung it over his shoulder. “Bye, fuckface,” he called to Chanyeol, smiling sweetly and waving.

Baekhyun spared one last glanced back toward Chanyeol. He looked sort of guilty, and Chanyeol wanted to feel the same way. He wanted to be able to blame Baekhyun for this, but he couldn’t. He took out his phone, pitying the poor fool on the other line. 

“Why didn’t you tell me Tao was an alien?” he demanded as soon as Kris answered with his signature cursing out of whoever was interrupting whatever he was doing. “I found out five minutes ago when Baekhyun told me he was inviting an alien friend over and who should walk in the door but the fucker we’ve been hanging out with for nearly a month now!”

“Jesus, Chanyeol calm your tits,” Kris snapped. “I didn’t tell you because I know you don’t like aliens. Excuse me for not wanting my best friend to hate my boyfriend.” 

“You can’t be serious, Kris. You can’t date it! It’s not human!” There was a tense silence over the line and Chanyeol knew that he’d crossed the line.

“Zitao is not an ‘it’,” he said quietly. “Goodbye, Chanyeol.”

 

When Baekhyun came back, it was very late. The clock on the wall read four in the morning, and Chanyeol was glad that it was a Friday and he could sleep in the next day. He’d waited up for Baekhyun because he had something he wanted to say. 

He stood up as soon as the door clicked shut and Baekhyun noticed him. His dark-rimmed eyes fell immediately to the floor.

“I don’t hate aliens,” Chanyeol said. “I don’t.” 

Baekhyun didn’t reply. He just stood there with an unreadable expression on his face and his lower lip sucked into his mouth in nervousness. 

“You don’t have an alien hating roommate. I just..” He dragged his hand roughly through his hair and let out a deep breath. “I just don’t understand. I never even gave the possibility that aliens were real more than a passing thought, and then all of a sudden you guys were here and I just don’t get it!” His voice was becoming louder with every word. “I mean what the fuck do you people even want!?” Baekhyun was very quiet, standing against the door to the room as though frozen. Chanyeol gritted his teeth in frustration as he stomped toward the smaller boy. 

Baekhyun’s eyes widened as he approached, and by the time Chanyeol had reached the door, Baekhyun’s eyes were clenched closed and he had curled in on himself as though waiting for a blow. 

“Baekhyun. What do you guys want?” 

Dark eyes opened slowly, surprise filling them at the realization that he had not been hit. “Well what do you want?” Baekhyun asked in response. Chanyeol pushed away from him then, putting more space between them.

“I just want to live without the fear that I’m going to get blown up on my own planet or something!”

Baekhyun shook his head sadly, and there was pity in his dark eyes. “You thinking we’re going to blow you up is just as stupid as me having nightmares that you’re going to stab me in my sleep. I just want to live, Chanyeol. I just want to live and learn and be free to do what I want to do without being afraid that I’m going embarrass my family or something.” Baekhyun walked to the couch and slumped down onto it. “You have no idea what it’s like for me on my own planet. I’ve never felt right there.”

“And you feel right here? You feel right on a planet entirely different from where you were born, so far away from everything you’ve ever known?” 

Baekhyun looked up at Chanyeol sadly. “I did at first. But I guess there’s nowhere for me I can feel right.” 

“What changed?”

“I realized that people really don’t want me here.” 

Chanyeol didn’t know what to say. He’d never been good with words, or even actions. He sat on his bed and pulled the pillow over his face. After a while he heard Baekhyun go up to his own bed and click his desklamp off. 

 

It was hard to trust his own judgment anymore. Sometimes he looked at people and wondered if they were human or alien, and he couldn’t tell the difference, for the most part. There were the occasional individuals who were obviously not human. There were also humans that were so gorgeous that Chanyeol thought they had to be aliens.

One such person was Sehun, who was in one of his classes. He’d taken to asking people that he spoke with on a regular basis if they were human or not, in casual ways. For instance, he’d ask them where they grew up, and generally the aliens would admit that they weren’t human. Sehun had told him he’d been born and raised in Seoul, so he’d known he was human.

Sehun was a lot like Chanyeol, actually. After a few weeks of knowing each other, Sehun had mentioned how creepy he thought the aliens were, and Chanyeol had been relieved. He’d thought he was the only one left who hadn’t accepted them as normal. Sehun was especially creeped out by how gorgeous they all were. When he’d found out about Baekhyun, he’d referred to Baekhyun as ‘Chanyeol’s pet alien’. It was amusing for a while, but one day when Sehun mentioned it, he’d heard a sharp breath and turned around to see the back of a sickeningly familiar head retreating away from them.

Baekhyun hadn’t said anything about it, but Chanyeol had seen him every day for nearly two months. He knew the back of that head better than anybody else’s, probably even his own. He wanted to be friends with Sehun because since the whole Tao thing, Kris hadn’t spoken to him. He didn’t have any real friends besides Kris anyway, so the loss of that one made a huge dent in his social life. 

“Anyway, yeah, party this weekend,” Sehun said after their class one day. “A friend of mine is hosting it, and he’s providing the liquor, so it’s even more kick ass.” 

“Liquor?” Chanyeol asked, glancing over at him. Liquor was one thing his mother had told him to stay away from. He was supposed to keep his nose in the books.

Actually, a night of partying and boozing sounded pretty appealing. 

 

Sehun’s friend Joonmyun was a kick ass friend, Chanyeol decided, and one that he was glad to have made. He had money out the ass, apparently, so he could afford to splurge and go all out on expensive liquor and shit. He’d never officially been drunk before, but Chanyeol figured as a freshman in college, it was an experience he wanted to have. 

He had found a likely looking female companion for the night, ready to have that first, as well, he figured, and he was leaning all close to her and slurring into her ear when he recognized someone over her shoulder that should definitely not be at this sort of party, with at least four people he’d met through Sehun that night that he knew were openly hostile toward aliens. 

“I’ll be right back,” he said, leaving her in there and stumbling over to Baekhyun. “Baekhyun! What are you doing here?” Baekhyun looked equally surprised to see him there.

“Me? What are you doing here? I was invited by-”

“Baekhyun you said?” Out of nowhere Sehun was there, and Chanyeol knew this wouldn’t be good. “Your alien roommate?” He smiled a little and the smile was not pleasant at all. A few people around them turned to look, and Chanyeol did not like the looks in their eyes. From the looks of it, neither did Baekhyun. 

“You should go,” Chanyeol said to him quietly while Sehun was distracted. “Get out of here.” 

Baekhyun complied immediately, and several people watched him go with expressions of anger and hate. Sehun, drunk and loud, having a good time as though the whole awkward thing had never happened, pulled Chanyeol toward the kitchen to get another drink. From there, it was few drunken steps to the middle of the crowded living room that was serving as a dance floor.

 

The first thing that Chanyeol noticed when he woke up at Sehun’s friends’ house, in a closet, by the look of it, wasn’t the horrible hangover. It wasn’t the smell of stale alcohol and sweat. The first thing he noticed was actually the naked body pressed up against him. It was decidedly not female, judging from the appendage that was pressing against his ass. 

Luckily there wasn’t any pain coming from his ass, so he had at least topped. He turned around and groaned when he saw an equally naked Sehun waking up behind him.

“Fuck me I wish last night hadn’t happened,” Sehun said with a groan. “If you ask for seconds I’m kicking you in the balls.”

“I didn’t even realize I wanted firsts,” Chaneyeol replied, scrambling around for his clothes. “Great. I get drunk and lose my virginity to my guy friend.” He couldn’t say ‘best friend’. Kris might not have been talking to him or acknowledging his existence, but he was still Chanyeol’s best friend. Sehun cracked a grin.

“Aww, I was your first?” he asked. “That’s so cute, seriously.” 

He slapped Sehun in the face with his own boxers and hastily put his clothes on. 

As though his life weren’t confusing enough before, now he had a sexual identity crisis to deal with, too. Unlike some of his friends growing up, Chanyeol had never been homophobic, but he’d always imagined himself with a girl. Obviously something had happened between he and Sehun that had made drunk!Chanyeol decide dick would be as fun as chick.

He hoped things wouldn’t become awkward between him and Sehun. If the way Sehun said goodbye by punching him on the shoulder like nothing had even happened was any clue, that wouldn’t be a problem. He desperately needed a shower. Losing your virginity to a male friend would do that to a guy.

When he got back to his room, Baekhyun wasn’t there, and his bed looked like it hadn’t been slept in. Exactly why Baekhyun wasn’t in his bed so early in the morning wasn’t a mystery for long. He’d barely been in the room for ten minutes when the door opened and he turned to see Baekhyun coming into the room. 

“What the fuck happened to you?” he asked blankly, eyes widening in shock.

Baekhyun had a sling on one arm, and high up on one cheek was a purpling bruise. The way he was walking so carefully made Chanyeol wonder what other injuries he was hiding under his clothes. 

“Don’t talk to me,” Baekhyun replied stiffly, limping past him toward his bed. Chanyeol grabbed him before he could pass, and Baekhyun glared at him with open hostility that left Chanyeol shocked. “Like you don’t know what happened. They were your friends!”

“My friends? What are you-“

“Yeah, the people are that party! The ones who invited aliens to it just so they could attack them for fun! They followed me, Chanyeol! They followed me when I left.” Chanyeol shook his head numbly. “I didn’t even get the worst of it because someone was walking by when they had me on the ground kicking me and they ran off.” Baekhyun slapped Chanyeol’s hand away from his arm. “I should report you,” he spat, eyeing Chanyeol like he was something disgusting. 

“I had nothing to do with that!” Chanyeol interjected as Baekhyun turned away from him. 

“Right,” Baekhyun replied. “Of course you didn’t.”

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol grabbed the alien, stopping him. “I didn’t! I swear I didn’t, you have to believe me!” 

Baekhyun glanced at him over his shoulder. “Then why were you at that party? If you didn’t know what was going to happen, why did you end up there?”

“My friend invited me,” Chanyeol replied quietly. Sehun. Had Sehun known? “I wouldn’t have ever..”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Baekhyun said, and his eyes were filled with tears. “I just want to go home.”

Chanyeol let go of Baekhyun and watched the smaller boy carefully climb the stairs to his loft and collapse onto his bed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baekhyun makes a request Chanyeol has set himself up to be unable to refuse.

Chanyeol couldn’t deny the uncomfortable tightness in his chest at the pained tone Baekhyun spoke in. It was the sound of somebody who had been pushed to the edge of a great chasm and found that they lacked the strength to fight the inevitable fall that came next. 

‘I want to go home,” Baekhyun had said, in a soft tone that sent shards of uncomfortable guilt burrowing deep into his chest and stomach. After everything Baekhyun had said about wanting somewhere to belong, about loving his life on Earth, the thought that he was completely broken now was something that Chanyeol was very not okay with.

The only thing he could do was make sure he was hanging with the right people. He sought Sehun out the very next morning, after he’d awoken a few hours after getting back from the party to find Baekhyun already gone. The other boy’s dorm room was clear across campus, but Chanyeol made it there in record time, jogging through his anger, guilt, and frustration. 

Sehun opened the door after the first few knocks, his hair disheveled and bags under his eyes. 

“I told you no seconds,” Sehun said shortly. “Don’t stalk me, we’re good as friends, but we’re really not meant to be.”

“Did you know about the party?”Chanyeol asked, pushing his way inside around Sehun. “Did you know what they were going to do there?”

“I assume it’s much the same at every party, Chanyeol. Drinking, accidental gay sex, and then a not-awkward goodbye see you later.”

“I’m not talking about that!”Chanyeol snapped as he turned to face Sehun. “I’m talking about the aliens that your friend invited so they could be party entertainment and be jumped and beaten up!” Sehun’s eyes widened. “My roommate was one of them. His arm’s broken and he was limping around like there was more than that.”

Sehun closed the door and spoke in a conspiratorially low voice, as though they were talking about some secret between the two of them. “Chanyeol, I had no idea. You think I could have been part of something like that?”

“It was your friend’s party,”Chanyeol replied with no shortage of hostility. “And I saw the look on your face when you heard he was an alien. You looked at him like he was shit on the bottom of your shoe.”

“You know I don’t like aliens! That doesn’t mean I’m gonna set some up to be assaulted, Chanyeol. Don’t forget, you and me were dancing and then fucking in a closet through the last half of the party. I didn’t do anything to any alien, and you know that for a fact.”

Chanyeol held his head in his palms and clenched his jaw closed. “Fine, you didn’t actually do it. You swear to me that you didn’t know about it. Fucking swear to me.”

“I didn’t know anything about it. Fuck, Chanyeol, I’m not a sociopath. Aliens freak me out and I want them to go home, but that doesn’t mean I want to hurt them.” Sehun reached out and awkwardly patted Chanyeol’s shoulder. “I hope your roommate isn’t mad at you.”  
“Oh he’s mad at me,” Chanyeol replied, looking down at the carpet. “I just dunno what to tell him. He doesn’t believe that I didn’t know.”

“Do something nice for him or something.”

Chanyeol didn’t bother explaining that the last time he’d done something nice for Baekhyun he’d almost killed him. He’d expected to leave Sehun’s room with one less friend, but he believed Sehun’s claims of innocence. Just because somebody had shitty friends didn’t necessarily mean they were a shitty person as well. 

Hot cocoa was out of the question, which left Chanyeol in a funk of discomfort, unsure what to do to make it right again with Baekhyun. He couldn’t just leave it alone and hope that it would all work itself out in the end. He could understand the implications. He could have been involved in the whole plot, and even though he hadn’t been, how was Baekhyun supposed to believe just his words?

At about midnight, Chanyeol figured Baekhyun would be back any time, seeing as it was a Sunday and they had class the next day. He put some water on to simmer and got a packet of cocoa for himself, but two mugs. When Baekhyun opened the door and smelled the sweetness of cocoa he glared in suspicion at Chanyeol as he thrust a steaming mug at him.

“It’s just hot water,”Chanyeol said quietly. “I know you can’t have cocoa, but water’s okay right?”

“You’re giving me hot water?”

“Well what else am I supposed to do?” Chanyeol asked desperately. “I can’t think of how I can convince you that I’m not out to get you. I went to a party with a friend, that’s all. I didn’t know they were planning that. If I had I would have never gone. I would have reported them. You have to believe me.”

“I don’t know what to believe. What kind of friends do you have that they take you to a party like that?” Baekhyun asked, setting his cup of hot water on the bookshelf. “It makes me wonder about your judgment.” 

“Sehun didn’t know either. I guess he’s known Joonmyun for a long time and didn’t know he would plan something like that. Please believe me. I’ll do anything, really. Just promise me you believe that I wouldn’t do something like that.”

“I can’t just-”

“I’ll do anything,” Chanyeol clasped his hands together, pleading for understanding. “You name it and I’ll do it.”

Baekhyun turned away from Chanyeol to clear his head. It was difficult to stay mad at the boy when he seemed so sincere. Even as he considered his own inability to show forgiveness, Baekhyun wondered when he’d changed. A few months ago, forgiveness would have been something he offered without being asked. 

He turned back to Chanyeol, who had the lost and hurt expression of a kicked puppy.

“You’ll do anything?” he asked.

“Anything.”

“Alright. Come home with me next weekend. Back to EXO,” Baekhyun said. “And then I’ll forgive you. Come home with me and feel what it’s like to be an alien on a planet where people don’t want to trust you.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol takes a trip

“Go with you to your planet?” Chanyeol repeated blankly, his eyes blinking down at Baekhyun. “How will that solve anything? How will that convince you that I had nothing to do with this? It sounds to me like you just want to make me uncomfortable.”

“Fine,” Baekhyun replied, turning away from Chanyeol abruptly. “Keep your distance from me. Don’t talk to me. Don’t even look at me, and we’ll get along just fine.” 

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol protested. “Come on, don’t be like this.” 

“I tried to like you, Chanyeol, I really did. I tried to befriend you. You didn’t like me since the beginning, and you never tried to hide it. You’re the one who said you’d do anything. I said what it would take to earn back my trust, and you refuse to do it.” Baekhyun threw a look over his shoulder. “I get it. You’re afraid. Fine, then, be afraid. But don’t expect me to be okay with living with you after last night.”

“Last night had nothing to do with me!” 

“Whatever you say, Chanyeol. It shouldn’t matter to you so much what I believe.”

“It matters because I don’t want to be blamed for something I didn’t do. I was in a closet having accidental sex with my friend Sehun, how was I supposed to know what happened when I wasn’t even there?” Chanyeol snapped in frustration. “I don’t want to go to your planet and get some crazy alien disease that’ll kill me, or have some human hating alien attack me.”

Baekhyun turned around completely, leaning his ass against the wall. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” he asked quietly. “You really think those things could happen.”

“It happened in the past! Europeans went to America and got all the Indians sick, and they all died. All of them. There’s no more left,” Chanyeol said. 

“That’s bullshit and you know it. Let’s, just for a second, think about this planet. Think of all the war wages all the time. The millions of people that have been murdered for a single man’s ideas on what the world should be. Exo has had one war in its entire history, and that was because we were enslaved by an alien race and we rose up to fight them, and won. Your DNA is nearly identical to mine. Your scientists have published countless articles about the differences and similarities between our two physiologies. Your DNA is closer to mine than it is to any animal on your planet.” Baekhyun took a few steps toward Chanyeol, a determined, angry look on his face. “Do you know why that is? Because we’ve BEEN here. My people. Thousands of years ago. We came here and visited your planet, and we interacted with your ancestors, and who knows how many of my people decided to stay. They probably mated with your ancestors. You probably have alien in you!” He prodded he center of Chanyeol’s chest, and looked up at him with his clear, ice-blue eyes shining. 

“Do not,” Chanyeol said quietly.

“And not to mention that your human doctors have studied humans who have visited Exo and come back and they are perfectly healthy! Our medicine is much better than yours. We can cure and heal things that humans can’t even attempt to cure and heal yet. All I want is to expose you to a different type of world. Somewhere new. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“And this is the only way you’ll forgive me for something I didn’t even actually do, right?” 

“The only way,” Baekhyun replied. 

“Fine,” Chanyeol said with a deep, heavy sigh. “Fine, I’ll go.” 

Baekhyun smiled brightly, his eyes no longer glowing with anger. They were replaced with a happy light. He practically skipped across the room to his dresser to get pajamas. 

“I’m going home this Friday. Pack for a weekend, and we’ll leave after our classes end for the week,” he said. 

“What’s the weather like on Exo this time of year?” Chanyeol asked glumly. 

“Same as here,” Baekhyun replied. “Do you need to use the bathroom I need a shower.” 

“No, I’m good,” Chanyeol replied, and watched as Baekhyun skipped off into their shared bathroom. Somehow, he felt like he’d just lost a battle of wills against Baekhyun. Did aliens have some sort of weird telepathic ability to make people obey them? 

 

The week passed entirely too fast for Chanyeol’s peace of mind. It seemed like one day his alarm clock was waking him up for his Monday classes, and the next his Friday class was coming to a close. It was almost like his professors were conspiring against him, too. They barely assigned any homework for the week. That had been his last hope, that he’d have so much homework Baekhyun would take pity on him and reschedule for a later date. 

As it was, when he opened the door of their room, very quietly, it was only to see Baekhyun chattering happily on his phone.

“We’re leaving as soon as he gets back from his classes. Yeah, I have the paperwork ready for him to fill out. He has an ID already issued from the school, so it’ll be fine. Yes, dad, I understand. I’ll make him dress professionally. Of course I’ve been on my best behavior, father.” Baekhyun grabbed his backpack, peeking inside it one last time before he zipped it closed. Chanyeol stepped into the room and cleared his throat. “Oh, he’s back. I’m going to hang up, okay? I’ll be home soon. Yes, father. Goodbye.” 

“Your dad knows I’m coming?” 

“Yes, he knows. I called ahead and made sure it was okay to bring a friend over. Listen, there’s something I want to tell you. My dad is kind of… Strict. I mean, he’s nice and all, and he’s excited you’re coming because you’re human and he thinks it’ll set a good example for inter-world friendships, I guess. But you’re going to be a little overwhelmed when we get there. Just be ready, okay?” 

“Trust me, I’m ready to be overwhelmed,” Chanyeol replied, grabbing a few books and zipping them up in his bag. His duffle bag was already packed, so he slung it over his shoulder. “I’m ready when you are.”

“Okay. There’s just one more thing. Could you fill this form out with your name, birthday, home address, and contact information for your mom, if anything happens?” Chanyeol must have looked terrified, because Baekhyun rolled his eyes and continued. “It’s standard. Everyone has to fill one out, just in case something happens. Like an accidental broken bone or a vehicle accident. Accidents happen on my planet, too. Your injuries would be taken care of on Exo, it would just be best to report the incident to your family.”

“You’re really not making me feel better,” Chanyeol said as he grabbed a pen and scribbled the information down. “How do we even get to your planet? Is a space ship coming?” 

Baekhyun looked up from his phone, his eyes dull. “Are you serious? A spaceship? You do realize how stupid that was, right? If we actually flew vessels to your planet from mine it would take like 400 years. We’re using a wormhole.”

“A wormhole? Like in science fiction stories?”

“Sort of. There’s a teleporter set up in most large cities now. We’ll go, give them your paperwork, I’ll show them my ID, and they’ll activate the teleporter. It is powered by wormholes, and it literally takes five or six seconds and we’ll be in the central part of our capital city.” 

“So where are we going?” 

“Incheon Airport! Let’s go go go!” Baekhyun grabbed Chanyeol’s sleeve, and pulled him out of the room. It was a short walk to the bus station, and about fifteen minutes later, they were getting off the bus at the airport. Of course Chanyeol had seen the airport before, but since the last time he’d been there they’d added an outdoor line that led to a large, circular platform underneath a crystal arch. The arch was glowing with a faint blue light. The line was pretty long, but the wait time wasn’t. It only took a few moments with each person and they were gone through the arch and the next person was called forward. 

Baekhyun had his scarf pulled way up his face, covering his nose, even though it wasn’t particularly cold or windy. The people around them seemed to be mostly human, as far as Chanyeol could see. They were talking about how excited they were to be visiting Exo. 

When it was their turn to go through, Chanyeol handed his paperwork to the man at the computer station, and his information was stored in the computer. Baekhyun handed the man his ID and pulled his scarf down. The man peered at Baekhyun with interest before handing the ID back and motioning them to get on the platform.

Chanyeol was shaking as he walked onto the platform, steeling himself under the beautiful arch. Baekhyun stood next to him. He was actually grateful that the arch could transport a few people at once. He’d have hated to make this trip alone. 

There was a bright flash of light, a warm, soft light, and suddenly the ground was gone. Light flashed around him like strobes at a party, and he had a very uncomfortable sense of weightlessness that made him feel like he was going to vomit. He clenched his eyes shut, hoping it would pass quickly. After moments, the ground was back. There was the sound of flowing water around him, and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a beautiful, clear creek flowing around a small raised hill. There was a bridge leading across the creek. The water was very…. Alien. It was light purple. The rocks shined like pure silver.

“There he is!!” A sudden voice called out. Chanyeol thought for a split second they were talking about him, until he realized that the people gathered on the other side of the bridge were all staring and pointing at Baekhyun. “Baekhyun!!! Baekhyun!!” 

Chanyeol glanced down at Baekhyun in confusion. He’d removed his scarf and tousled his hair, and he was smiling happily at the girl waving at him. “Friend of yours?” he asked. 

“Sort of,” Baekhyun replied. 

“Alright everyone, back up, yes, it’s him, he’s home,” another voice, slightly annoyed, said. “Give him and his friend space.”

A slight-of-frame pretty boy pushed through the crowd and started making his way across the bridge. Baekhyun saw him and squealed happily, practically throwing himself into his arms. Chanyeol figured this was the person he’d been talking on the phone with a few weeks back. They laughed together for a few seconds, making Chanyeol feel very awkward, until Baekhyun turned back to Chanyeol.

“Chanyeol, this is my bodyguard, Luhan. Luhan, my roommate, Chanyeol.” 

“Bodyguard?” Chanyeol repeated, accepting the handshake Luhan offered. 

“I’m more than a bodyguard, Baekhyun, you wound me. I’m your other half.”

“Yes, of course,” Baekhyun replied with a roll of his eyes. “And I appreciate that you wore your tightest slut pants for me.”

“Anything for my Baekhyun.” The two laughed again and Chanyeol tightened his backpack straps around his shoulders. “Anyway, the car is waiting, lets head that way. Your father is waiting.”

Luhan led them both across the bridge, and the girls all squealed and cried Baekhyun’s name, reaching for him, but still being respectful enough to keep their distance and not touch him. Baekhyun smiled at them all, taking a few moments to answer quick questions, mostly about how his time on Earth had been so far, and how he was doing. He allowed a few girls to touch him, but they were past the small group rather quickly, and led to a vehicle that looked like nothing Chanyeol had ever seen before.

It was hovering. And made of mostly what looked like glass, but shimmered like crystal. He allowed Luhan to help him put his bags in the trunk of the vehicle mostly because he was too busy staring at all of the sights that he hadn’t noticed before. The sky was an orangeish peach color, and there was a large moon, so big he could make out landmasses on it from where he stood. The trees were swaying in the wind, which seemed to whistle like music. Everything was beautiful and clean. 

“I’m surprised there aren’t more people waiting here for you. You should see the crowd at the house. They’ve been gathering outside the gates since this morning,” Luhan said from the front passenger seat. The driver nodded. 

“Aw, didn’t anybody tell them when I was coming?”

“Yes, we made sure they knew. They wanted to wait anyway just in case you came early,” the driver said with a laugh. “Hi, by the way, thanks for saying hello to your old friend.”

“Hi, Yixing!!!” Baekhyun reached his arms around the headrest of the seat and hugged the driver tightly. “Did you miss me? I sure missed you, you sexy fucker.”

“Yeah, I missed you, and your pretty lips.”

“Jesus, Baekhyun, how many people are you sleeping with?” Chanyeol asked, his eyes going wide. Luhan, Baekhyun, and the driver all started laughing.

“Gross, I would never sleep with either of them. We’ve all known each other since we were very small. Besides, it’s not like it is on Earth here. We don’t really do lovers.”

“Especially not, Baekhyun, he’s a precious little flower.”

“Shut up, Luhan. Oh look at all the people, how sweet.”

Chanyeol peered out the window in front of him, surprised to see gates leading up to an absolutely enormous building. People were everywhere, peering at their car as it approached. They seemed to sense that it was Baekhyun, because they started jumping around and cheering. 

“You live here? Oh my god, it’s enormous,” Chanyeol said. 

“Well, their house is actually only the east wing. The rest of it is the capitol building,” Luhan replied casually.

“Your family lives in the capitol building?” Chanyeol asked, an eyebrow raised in question. 

“Where else would they live? His dad is the president.” 

Thunderous silence met Luhan’s words, and Chanyeol stared at Baekhyun, his eyes the size of dinner plates. Baekhyun picked quietly at his fingernails. 

“Your father is the president? The president of what exactly?”

“His dad is the president of Exo,” Luhan said, eyeing Baekhyun in disapproval. “He’s actually the most loved president this planet has ever had. Baekhyun, you didn’t tell him? How could you not tell him? No wonder he looked so freaked out by all the fans.”

“It didn’t really come up.”

“Your father is the president of this entire planet and you didn’t think to tell me!?” Chanyeol said, his jaw dropping. “What the hell, Baekhyun!”

“He’s kind of a big deal here, too. Baekhyun single handedly started a charity foundation for orphan children. He got a lot of attention a few years back for his philanthropic work,” Yixing said helpfully from the front seat.

“Can we please stop talking about me, it’s making me uncomfortable,” Baekhyun said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, it just didn’t ever seem like the time. And you didn’t know anything about me. That’s what I like the most about Earth. Nobody knows who I am. I can pick my nose in public and it won’t end up on the front page of some tabloid.”

Chanyeol couldn’t stop eyeing Baekhyun curiously, wondering what else he didn’t know about the boy. Charity work, huge fanbase of crazy screaming girls, and a father who was a prominent political figure. He had a feeling that this weekend was going to be rather full of surprises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't actually written on this in a long time, but I've gotten inspired suddenly. :)


End file.
